Vacuum-pack canning tin



Nov. 95, w43. E. P. BUGGE VACUUM-PACK CANNING TIN Filed sept. le, 1941 A TTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 9

UNITED STATI-:s PArr-:Nr OFFICE 2,939,841 vacuum-PACK (Mmmm.4 'rm Eran; r. Bugie, seattle, wash. Application september 1s, 1941, semi Nu. 410.991

z cnam. (c1. zzo-59) This invention relates to improvements in vacnum-pack canning tins of the character employing a unitary exterior shell hermetically sealed by top and bottom marginal seams to the end walls of the container, and wherein the said exterior shell is given circumferential 'scorings to delne therebetween a tear-strip terminating at its initiating end in an exposed stripping tongue arranged to be introduced in the slot of a removal I key, the key acting to rupture the shell on the lines of the scorings as the strip is wound upon the same. In this type of tin there is also provided a short liner extending about the inner circumference of the shell in lapping relation to the scorings and which is held in iixed relation to the shell by the instrumentality, at a point below the lowermost scoring line, of pressing a circumferentially extending bead into the assembly whereby the material of the liner nests in the material of the shell. The inner liner becomes important to the tin only upon a removal of the tear-strip, thereupon serving as a neck about which the lidforming upper end of the ruptured outer shell may be snugly sleeved to close the container against access of air.

Considering this type of vacuum-pack canning tin, one objectionable feature stands out, namely a tendency for the tear-strip to work off the end of the removal key in the form of open spiral whorls as the tin is being opened, following a worm pattern rather than the intended closed spiral unless extreme care is taken by the user to hold the key against a longitudinal shifting in relation to the tin. Aside from the danger which can be attributed to the sharp edges of the twisted whorls, considerable annoyance is caused in that a complete severing of the tear-strip from the shell is obtained only with diiiiculty and frequently requires application of pliers.

Stating the same generally, the object of the tin and., upon removal of the strip, of the exposed lid-supporting neck.

It is a still further and a distinct object o i' the invention to provide a receptacle having the foregoing advantages capable of being produced at a cost in no way increased over the pro `duction cost of previous inferior tins.

The invention consists in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawing: i

Figure 1 is a perspective view'of a vacuum-pack canning tin produced in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention and shown in its sealed state.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged perspective view illustrating the tin in the process of windin the tear-strip upon the removal key. Y

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse vertical section of my tin with the tear-strip intact.

Fig. i is a sectional view to an enlarged scale showing the tear-strip fully wound upon the removal key; and

Fig. 5 is an underside plan view of a portion of the tear-strip.

The present invention, as above stated, is adapted to be applied to the common form of vacuum-pack tin employing a unitary shell, denoted in the drawing by the numeral III, marginally connected by top and bottom seams I I-I 2 to the end walls I3 and I4 of the tin, and in which the said shell is capable of being rupturedthrough the instrumentality of providing spaced and parallel scorings, as I5 and I6, describing therebetween a tear-strip Il extending about the entire circumference. It is usual in producing the tins to impress lightly into the inner face of the tear-strip a series of oiIset herring-bone scorings (Fig. 5) directed inwardlyfrom the side edges towards the originating end of the strip, these light scorings acting in the manner of graming to prevent a converging travel of the rupture lines inwardly from the scorings I5 and I6. The short liner to which I have referred and which is applied to the inner wall of the container in a position to have its upper end lap the tear-strip is indicated at IB, a beading such as indicated at 2B being employed below the lower scoring I6 to press the material of the liner outwardly into nesting relation to the shell for iixing the liner against longitudinal shifting in relation to the Y shell.

tongue is disposed in overlying relation to the other end of the blank.

My present invention makes no change whatever in the basic steps employed to produce the described tin, and consists in the simple expedient of impressing into the tear-strip on the substantial longitudinal median line thereof an inwardly projecting bead,- as 23, and of correspondingly deforming the material of the liner by expressing the same inwardly as a nesting accommodation therefor, thisv bead being desirably of a width appreciably less than that of the strip. The said tongue 22 I fo'rm to approximately the same width as the bead, and desirably locate the same to dispose its longitudinal median line in correspondence with that of the head.

From the foregoing it will be understod that the location of the tongue is such as to disposeV the same within the range of the bead 23, which is to say in a position such that when the tongue is lifted outwardly from the plane of the tin and inserted into the slot 24 of the key 24 and the latter turned to break the seal and initiate a winding action of the strip upon the key, that the tongue thereupon lodges in the channel produced by the inwardly directed bead. Successive wraps or winds of the tear-strip effect a registration with the head of the preceding wrap and produce the nesting result indicatedy in Fig. 4. It is believed to be apparent that the beading, as applied, consequently serves to lock the. tear-strip 'against either a bodily shifting of all of the wraps or of an individual shifting of oneas respects a next adjacent winding. In addition to the locking function, it will likewise be apparent y that the bead serves the further end of augmenting the lower and reversely applied bead as a means for holding the liner and of reinforcing the container while the latter is in its sealed state, and of strengthening the liner neck upon a removal of the tear-strip.

strip. providing Ia tongue element joined to the tear-strip and produced as a rectilineal prolongation of the rib with its width corresponding, or approximately corresponding to the width of the rib and adapted to be engaged by a keyvfor removing the tear-strip, and being deformed below the lower of said scorings to describe a second circumferentially extending rib; and a sleeve member introduced as an internal liner to the body shell, extending at the upper and lower limits above and below said upper scoring and the lower rib, respectively, and deformed/in correspondence with the body shell to snugly fit the latter.

2, A tearing strip can construction comprising I a body shell deformed to describe an inwardly 'directed and circumferentially extending ribv lying in spaced relation below the filling limits of the can, having scorings above and below said rib and paralleling the latter to dene a tearstrip, and providing a, tongue element joined to the tear-strip and produced as a rectilineal prolongation of the rib with its width corresponding, or approximately corresponding, to the width of the rib and adapted to be engaged by a key for removing the tear-strip; and an internal liner for the shell snugly fitting the latter with its upper limit extending above the' upper scoring and its lower limit extending below the lower scoring, and having means disposed at a point below said lower scoring interconnecting the liner and shell to secure the former against shifting movements lengthwise of the shell.

. ERLING P. BUGGE. 

